newbie at USING the PSP w/GTA-LCS

[charliee]

Well it works...sort of. What a kludge. I can imagine the effort the guys had to go through just to get it this far.

Anyway, I have to get into GTA, using 2 X presses at 2 screens, and eventually the eload menu shows up, with HelloWorld...and I can run it! And when I exit my brilliant app, it says "please wait....".....forever. I have to remove the batteries to get out. (Hmm, you don't suppose it's my superior program, do you?)

Anyway, I at least have a starting point, and maybe the next homebrew I use will be somewhat smarter at exiting.

Stay tuned for the next exciting adventure of "Really out-of-it Newbie".

Thanks all, and anyone wanting the 20 minutes, let me know, even via PrivateMessage.

Charlie

[Cooe14]

Instead of taking out the batterie you can also just hold the power button up for about 15 sec to do a hard power off.

[dalejrrocks]

You can press L1+R1+start to go back to eloader from almost any app. then you can press start there and it will exit. the whole process takes about 5 seconds. lol and I don't really know why you're having so much trouble, it took me 5 mins to get set up. but it's cool, it let's me help someone else.

[charliee]

"L1+R1+start"...ok, I'll investigate that, thanks. I have held the Power button up, but only for about 5 seconds as that seems to work under "normal" PSP operations.

1. It's hard to push the buttons, especially the joy stick.
2. When I push the button, nothing happens..so I push it again...then, 10 seconds later, there's the result from the first button push...unfortunately, there's that damn 2nd button push that I can't
unpush...so, the PSP continues on to who-know-where. As a result, I now push the button once and wait and wait and wait. If I've timed it right, I get result, but if I time it wrong, and have to do the 2nd button push, well, I've already waited haven't I?
Thus, from PSP poweron to eloader menu is on the order of 2+ minutes (also, I powerup with the memory stick and GTA already in place - wonder if that slows things down?). That why I emphasize the step-by-step concept. A good instruction set concept for me would be (assume already at PSP menu) :
1. Push button X
2. Wait 10 sec
3. Push button Y
4. Wait until PSP screen says {whatever}
5. Push ...
etc.

And I still have to learn what things like R1 means.

I expect that this is all PSP-centric user stuff, which comes with experience (I hope), and eventually I'll get it. However, my goal is not to get homebrew to work to play games, but rather get homebrew to work so I can figure out HOW it works. I'd really like to meet the guys who somehow figured out the GTA exploit in the first place. How did they do that? Someone got a PSP emulator? Maybe a MIPS decompiler? Maybe some source code? THAT kind of stuff is my forte, and that's where I want to get.
At the same time, I am paranoid that I don't brick the PSP, so I make sure everything is pre-planned and verified before I do it. Thus, I research things like "Do I plug in the PSP cable before or after I turn power on?"...and that information goes into the proper spot in the step-by-step instructions, which need to be at the level of a mentally challenged fifth grader.

Maybe it's my engineering background, but I like everything to be consistant, repeatable, and explained and consistant and repeatable

So I still have dumb-but-interesting questions, like, what/why is the Mario-and-bottletop screen there? What is it for? At what point in GTA should I NOT press a button? And eventually, of course, what's the fastest button sequence to get me to (in this case) the eloader?

And that, my helpful friends, is why it takes me so long, and why I insist on more details than just "do this...".

You have all been extremely helpful, and I think I've got enough knowledge to be dangerous. So, assuming I don't brick the dang unit, I'm questing for more knowledge and the next level. Anyone who cares to join me is welcome.

Thanks again,
Charlie

[dalejrrocks]

I think that Eloader is closed-source, at least I haven't seen any source code relating to the GTA exploit.

[charliee]

That certainly makes sense, of course. It's just that it seem to operate so arbitrarily each time I restart it.

And GTA is very difficult to comprehend ... how would I know to push X to skip the credits unless told, and I still can't find the "save game" magic.

Almost all of the homebrew I have DL'ed does not allow a smooth exit back to the PSP menu.

and etc...

Oh well, I am appeased by the fact that everyone else has to go through this too, which only serves to heighten my respect for the work that these people have performed in bringing homebrew to us little people.

Charlie

[psp890]

The games I've tried allow exit to emenu and then PSP like this:
Press and HOLD for a second then let go the top Left Clear Button (L1) and the top Right Clear Button (R1) and the Start button. From emenu exit to PSP menu by pressing Start.

[charliee]

Hah! it's the "hold for a second" trick! Guess I need to work on my reflexes.

Positively last question (today). How do I save a game? I have fought GTA to get to the room where I have to change clothes, and there is a blue icon that says something like "save #1". Assuming that is the save game point, how do I activate it? And can I review my game saves in the middle of the game, without actually loading them, then return to the game? (oops, that's two questions!)

Thanks
Charlie

[dalejrrocks]

save the GTA game ? or homebrew?
to save GTA go to a safe house when not on a misson and walk in the little disk icon.
You can review your game saves by going to GTA's menu(start I think), and going to game save menu.

[charliee]

Thanks, that's sort of what I thought. If you remember, or you play the game again, you will see that instructions similar to those appear when I walk into that building (so now it's a safe house?) where I change clothes..there is a disk icon. When I walk into that, it does disappear. And I have done that numerous times (that, at least, is somewhat intuitive), but I have yet to see the actual save appear on the memory stick. Thus, my repeated question on what should be a simple subject.

I'll try it again shortly. (Don't tell anyone I'm PSP-ing here at work!)

----------------------------------
Edit: Just checked again. After going to the safe house, changing clothes, and walking into the save icon, I use the start button to get to the menu. Then I try to delete stuff (just to prove it's there) and all I get is a "no data" message. Is this first save icon just for the instructions, or should there actually be a save of my current status?



Thanks
Charlie